Solving for the interior angles of a triangle

 
 
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Every triangle has three interior angles

The interior angles of a triangle are the three angles on the inside of a triangle. These three angles always sum to ???180{}^\circ???.

Three interior angles of a triangle

???x{}^\circ +y{}^\circ +z{}^\circ =180{}^\circ???

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There are a few other angle relationships we need to remember:

The angle measures that form a straight line add to ???180^\circ???, so ???z^\circ+w^\circ=180^\circ???.

 
The exterior angle of a triangle
 

Vertical angles are congruent, so ???x^\circ=y^\circ???.

 
Vertical angles in connected triangles
 
 
 

How to determine whether the set of angles creates a triangle


 
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Finding the unknown exterior angle of a triangle

Let’s start by working through an example.

Example

What is the value of ???x????

An unknown exterior angle


We know that these two angles lie on a straight line:

Calculating another interior angle

We can find the measure of the angle by subtracting ???180{}^\circ -142{}^\circ =38{}^\circ???.

Two known interior angles

The three angles inside a triangle sum to ???180{}^\circ???, so

???180{}^\circ -104{}^\circ -38{}^\circ =38{}^\circ???

All three interior angles are known

Now we can see that ???x^\circ??? and ???38^\circ??? lie on a straight line, so

???x{}^\circ +38{}^\circ =180{}^\circ???

???x{}^\circ =142{}^\circ???


Let’s try another one.


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The interior angles of a triangle are the three angles on the inside of a triangle. These three angles always sum to 180 degrees.

Example

What is the value of ???y????

Using vertical angles to find an unknown interior angle

The three interior angles of a triangle sum to ???180{}^\circ???, so

???m\angle 1+19{}^\circ +41{}^\circ =180{}^\circ???

???m\angle 1=120{}^\circ???

Vertical angles are congruent, so

???m\angle 1=m\angle 2=120{}^\circ???

Again, the three angles of a triangle sum to ???180{}^\circ???, so we can say

???m\angle 2+38^\circ +y^\circ =180^\circ???

???120^\circ +38^\circ +y^\circ =180^\circ???

???y^\circ =22^\circ???

 
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